Haikyuu!!: The Disaster of Gamers

The moment the whistle blew, the red number on the electronic scoreboard froze at 20:25.

Lost.

Even with Lu Ren's "cheat code" undergoing a spicy system upgrade, and even with Kageyama Tobio's passing accuracy reaching a new level, Karasuno still lost to Furutani Academy, which boasted one of the nation's top five outside hitters, Bokuto Kotaro.

The underlying logic of volleyball lies here: it's not a game where a max-level player can carry four smaller players to victory, but rather a precision instrument where six gears must rotate seamlessly.

"Don't hesitate! Circle the field once and dive! Now! Immediately!"

Sawamura Daichi's roar interrupted everyone's sage mode.

This is the cruel rule of the training camp—the losing team must immediately undergo a physical punishment called "fish leap." For a body that has just finished a high-intensity match, this is like a debuff that keeps draining health even when the health bar is almost empty.

Lu Ren pulled his knee pads up, resignedly lay down on the ground, propped himself up with his arms, lifted his chest and abdomen off the ground, and then slammed himself onto the wooden floor like a salted fish.

"one two three……"

Hinata Shoyo, that stamina monster, was bouncing around like a rabbit just released from its cage, shouting slogans as he went. Lu Ren followed behind, feeling his lungs burning with every bounce.

But he didn't shut down his brain as well.

Although his body was mechanically executing the punishment program, Lu Ren's eyes scanned the entire stadium like radar. The arena was like a giant server, simultaneously running several high-difficulty instances.

On the left side of the court, Ikawa High School is practicing serving.

They were a group of students who focused all their skill points on "power" and "serving." Their serves didn't rely on fancy tactics; they just relied on sheer force. The sound of the ball hitting the floor was dull and violent, and every hit seemed to send the opposing setter to their knees.

"The ultimate stacking of a single attribute, huh..." Lu Ren gasped for breath, silently assessing the situation in his mind. Aside from him and Kageyama, Karasuno's serves were barely passable; Yamaguchi's jump serve was still in progress, and the hardware couldn't support replicating Ikawa's style.

Shifting my gaze to the right, I saw Senran High School, who were coordinating multiple attacks.

This group of players plays like they're using a thousand layers of strategy. Before the setter even touches the ball, four or five attackers are already darting around the net, making it impossible to tell who's the bait and who's the main attacker. This "multiple players attacking simultaneously" time-difference style of play is like the Zerg's fast break in StarCraft, relying on chaos and numerical superiority.

"This is getting interesting." Lu Ren squinted and made a rather imperfect fish leap, taking the opportunity to stay prone for an extra second.

Karasuno has Hinata as its strongest bait. If it can incorporate the chaotic feeling of "everyone is a soldier" from Senran, and combine it with Kageyama's precision guidance, its destructive power will definitely double.

Further away was my old nemesis, Onkoma.

That was a team that made you want to throw your controller in frustration. No matter how you slammed the ball in, it was like it was glued on; they always managed to scoop it up from the floor. Especially that libero named Yoru Eisuke, his defensive range was ridiculously large, it was like he had a global cheat code.

"Wei Xi..." Lu Ren propped himself up, sweat dripping from his chin onto the floor.

Nekoma's defensive system is built on years of tacit understanding; it's a passive skill ingrained in their very being. For Karasuno's group of "disorganized" teammates, who have only been together for a few months, to expect to develop Nekoma's impenetrable defense in a short period of time is nothing short of a pipe dream.

As for Ootori, who just defeated them...

Lu Ren looked towards the center of the court. Kotaro Bokuto was making a huge fuss because he hadn't slammed the last ball to his heart's content, while Kyoji Akaashi was calmly soothing him from the side.

That ace was indeed ridiculously strong, his cross-court shots were so tricky they defied human perception. But the core of the team wasn't just Bokuto, but the team's peculiar belief system that "as long as the ace is happy, we can win."

"There are too many monsters."

Lu Ren finally completed his final dive, collapsing onto the sidelines in a spread-eagle position. The burning sensation in his lungs gradually subsided, replaced by the exhilaration of his brain working at high speed.

If Karasuno simply imitates any team, they can only produce a low-budget version.

He can't beat Ikawa in serving, he can't outlast Nekoma in defense, he can't outmaneuver Morinari in teamwork, and he can't match Fukutani's toughness in ace play.

Karasuno's attribute panel is too cluttered.

There's a genius setter like Kageyama, a prodigy with maxed-out agility like Hyuga, a rational player like Tsukishima who uses his brain, and a god-level libero like Nishinoya.

"Mmm..." Lu Ren stared at the ceiling light, his pupils slightly contracting.

"Miscellaneous" can also be interpreted as "all-rounder".

Since you can't achieve the ultimate in a single attribute, then be the most disgusting "chameleon".

Lu Ren sat up, grabbed the water bottle, and took a sip. The icy liquid slid down his esophagus, cooling the overheated CPU a little.

The current Karasuno team actually has a unique configuration that no other team has.

In the setter position, Kageyama is the absolute core, but Sugawara-senpai's steadiness and tactical deployment ability are equally impressive. As for myself, although my main position is opposite hitter, after this period of special training, I have no problem playing as a setter.

"The 3-2 passing system."

A tactical model instantly formed in Lu Ren's mind.

If there are three players capable of passing on the court simultaneously, the difficulty for the opponent to predict the shot will increase exponentially. If Kageyama is restricted, Sugawara can cover; if Sugawara is tightly marked, Kageyama can pass. The ball's trajectory will no longer have a fixed starting point; every point of contact could become the initiation of an attack.

But this is not enough.

Lu Ren looked at Captain Daichi, who was handing a towel to Nishitani.

Dadi's defense was rock solid, and Xigu was a top-tier flex player in the current meta. Add to that his own anticipatory defense, honed from being dominated by provincial teams.

"Three-defense system".

When the ground defense is impenetrable, the opponent's strong attack will become a "delivery" that gives Karasuno a counter-attack opportunity.

Now look at Hinata, who is exchanging trash talk with Tanaka.

"Three-offensive system".

Hinata's speed, Tanaka's powerful attacks, Asahi's strength, and his own sneak attacks from the back row.

Lu Ren's lips twitched uncontrollably.

This isn't a volleyball tactic; it's clearly exploiting a bug.

Depending on the round, Karasuno can seamlessly switch between "attack mode", "defense mode" and "control mode" at any time.

One second it's an impenetrable defense like Nekoma's, the next it can transform into a multi-pronged attack like Mori, and the next second it can dominate with serves like Ikawa.

The fact that there is no fixed style is Karasuno's biggest style.

"Hey, Lu Ren, your smile is disgusting."

Kageyama Tobio walked over carrying the ball, looking at Riku Ren sitting on the ground with a look of disgust. "Did Bokuto mess with your brain?"

"I'm thinking about how to maximize the use of your single-threaded brain." Lu Ren patted his butt and stood up, not angry at all. Instead, he put his hand on Kageyama's shoulder. "In the last set, if there was a ball that I didn't spike but passed to you for a second attack, or to Asahi-senpai in the back row, do you think Akira's blocking could keep up?"

Kageyama paused for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing into a tight knot, clearly simulating the scene in his mind.

"You mean... I should participate in the attack?"

"It's not just you." Lu Ren turned around and looked at Sugawara Koji, who was wiping his sweat in the rest area. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a calculating tone. "If Sugawara-senpai were on the field, we would have two brains. If I count as half a brain, then that's 2.5."

"I don't like that decimal point," Kageyama muttered discontentedly.

"Don't worry about the details." Lu Ren waved his hand, his gaze sweeping over the entire Karasuno lineup. "As long as we can integrate all these messy attributes, Karasuno can become a garbled monster that no one can understand."

At this moment, Wood Rabbit's signature loud voice rang out again.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Karasuno! Want another game? That last shot doesn't count, I want to smash another super short cross-court shot!"

Kyoji Akaashi skillfully grabbed Bokuto by the back of his collar and bowed slightly in their direction: "Sorry, he's just overly excited. Please don't mind him."

Looking at this lively duo, Lu Ren's idea became clearer and clearer.

Even a formidable team like Fukutani has the fatal weakness of Bokuto's emotional nature. And Karasuno, this still-evolving team, possesses limitless potential precisely because of its imperfections.

"Kageyama."

"what?"

"Don't rush to practice serving after dinner." Lu Ren picked up the volleyball from the ground, twirled it in his hand twice, and said, "Call Sugawara-senpai, Nishiya, Daichi-senpai, and that simple-minded Hyuga."

"What are you going to do?"

Lu Ren tossed the ball to Kageyama, his face displaying the kind of expression one only shows when discovering a hidden level in a game.

"Let's hold a seminar," Lu Ren said. "The topic will be—how to turn volleyball into a terrifying game that makes opponents want to smash their keyboards."

Since their hard skills are still in the development stage, let's first give these Tokyo powerhouses a little shock from the "players" on a tactical level.

"Also," Lu Ren added, his gaze falling on Gu Direnhua, who was recording data not far away, "have Renhua help me make a chart. I need to review everyone's skill trees."

Although Kageyama didn't fully understand what "skill tree" or "keyboard smashing" meant, he keenly caught the danger signal in Lu Ren's tone.

That's a signal before the hunter sets a trap.

"Okay," Kageyama responded, tightening his grip on the ball. "Anything is fine as long as we win."

Lu Ren stretched, his joints cracking loudly.

The soreness from the fish-dive punishment was still there, but the feeling of powerlessness from being suppressed by a powerful opponent had largely dissipated.

This expedition to Tokyo has only just begun.

"Let's go eat," Lu Ren called out. "I used up too much energy just now; I could eat a whole cow right now. Hopefully, the cafeteria has enough meat today, or I'll have to snatch Hinata's portion."

"How dare you!" Hinata, whose ears were incredibly sharp, turned around and roared from afar.

Lu Ren chuckled softly.

Look, this is Karasuno. Noisy, chaotic, and disorderly.

But it is precisely this chaos that breeds the possibility of overthrowing the order.